editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Andrei Codrescu ( www.codrescu.com ) has been a commentator on All Things Considered since 1983. He is an homme-de-lettres whose novels, essays and poetry have been infiltrating the American psyche since he emigrated from his native Romania to Detroit in 1965. He is the author of forty books of poetry, fiction, and essays, and the founder of Exquisite Corpse . He has received a Peabody award for the PBS version of his film Road Scholar , and has reported for NPR and ABC News from Romania (1989) and Cuba (1996). His new books are The Posthuman Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess (Princeton University Press, 2009) and Jealous Witness: New Poems (Coffee House Press), with a CD of Storm Songs by The New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars. Andrei lives in New Orleans and the Ozarks.NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Andrei CodrescuWed, 28 Dec 2016 10:19:52 +0000Andrei Codrescuhttp://whqr.org
Andrei CodrescuCopyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Google is investing in a startup called Improbable. The stated goal is to create digital simulations of real cities, economies and biological systems. This made Romanian-born commentator Andrei Codrescu think of life under communism and that dream of a new world. ANDREI CODRESCU, BYLINE: When Putin's hackers intervened in our democracy, Stalin stood up from his grave and applauded. Putin did what Stalin couldn't. If Stalin had had internet, he'd have built the communist dream of a new world with a few keystrokes instead of starving and killing millions of people. Putin, a would-be Stalin with internet, hacked his way right into the brain center of the U.S. The Russian dream hacked the American dream, which is weird. But since they're just dreams, maybe we'll wake up tomorrow and say, it was all just a bad dream. And now here comes Google, just in time to create yet another new world to which we might escape. Can Google do itGoogle Backs A New Digital World, But What About The Real New World?http://whqr.org/post/google-backs-new-digital-world-what-about-real-new-world
107277 as http://whqr.orgMon, 26 Dec 2016 23:35:00 +0000Google Backs A New Digital World, But What About The Real New World?Andrei CodrescuCommentator Andrei Codrescu remembers the first word processor he had — the Kaypro II in the 1980s. Its inventor, Andrew Kay, died Aug. 28 , at the age of 95. The Kaypro II weighed in at a mere 26 pounds and was a favorite of early computer aficionados. Somebody called it a portable, but it was really a luggable. It looked like it could take a direct hit from a bomb, inside a bunker. Its shiny metal body protruded and protected a tiny screen; it also protected me. I felt like a kid again, writing in my secret diary. Until the Kaypro, the hottest accessory of any self-respecting writer was the Selectric typewriter. The Kaypro was not an accessory; it let you write with light on glass, not ink on paper, which was mind-blowing. It felt both godlike and ephemeral. My goal at the time was "to do to things what light does to them," a verse by the French poet Guillevic. It was incredibly hip. And it made writing something very different. I lost the line breaks and the end of the page. WithoutThe Kaypro II: An Early Computer With A Writer's Hearthttp://whqr.org/post/kaypro-ii-early-computer-writers-heart
61182 as http://whqr.orgTue, 16 Sep 2014 21:22:00 +0000The Kaypro II: An Early Computer With A Writer's HeartAndrei CodrescuCommentator Andrei Codrescu reflects on the text message written by poet Seamus Heaney just before he died. In Latin he wrote to his wife "do not be afraid." The 74-year-old Heaney died in a Dublin hospital last week. Codrescu says no great meaning should be implied — it was just a personal message to his wife.Is There Any Meaning In Poet Seamus Heaney's Last Text?http://whqr.org/post/there-any-meaning-poet-seamus-heaneys-last-text
42713 as http://whqr.orgFri, 06 Sep 2013 21:20:00 +0000Is There Any Meaning In Poet Seamus Heaney's Last Text?